May 4 – this day in history

Exactly 112 years ago, (May 4, 1904) two gentlemen met at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, USA and created history in the automobile world. They were Frederick Henry Royce and Charles Stewart Rolls, the founders of Rolls and Royce auto brand. While Royce was a car designer, Rolls was motoring and aviation engineer. They both met through a mutual friend, Henry Edmunds and the rest, as they say, is history. When Henry Royce was designing the first Rolls‑Royce, a friend advised him to “turn out a reliable car at a low price”. But Royce was sought to turn out “the best motor car in the world regardless of cost”. More than a century later, that same desire for perfection is the driving force behind Rolls‑Royce Motor Cars. Some adrenaline rush for the car lovers!

There are some other equally significant events that happened on May 4 in past years:

• 1799 – The Battle of Seringapatam as part of the 4th British-Mysore war: The siege of Seringapatam ends with the invasion of the city and the killing of Tipu Sultan by the British army, commanded by General George Harris.
• 1854 – The first Indian stamp was officially issued from Calcutta where the first modern post office was established.
• 1896 – The first edition of Daily Mail, London was published.
• 1904 – Construction of the Panama Canal started.
• 1919 – As part of the May 4 Movement, students protest against the transfer of Chinese territory to Japan as part of the Treaty of Versailles at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
• 1945 – During World War II, the North German Army surrendered to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery at Lüneburg Heath.
• 1953 – The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize.
• 1959 – The Grammy Awards were held for the first time by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
• 1979 – The United Kingdom had its first woman Prime Minister – Margaret Thatcher.
• 1994 – Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and Yasser Arafat (leader of PLO) signed a peace accord, allowing for self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

May 4 is also celebrated as Anti-Bullying Day in USA and Greenery Day in Japan.

Birthday wishes to
Chhatrasal, Indian Maratha warrior (1649); Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian air marshal and politician, 4th President of Egypt (1928); Audrey Hepburn, British actress and humanitarian (1929); Jackie Jackson, American singer-songwriter and dancer (1951) and Ravi Bopara, English cricketer (1985).